Surface 3: Why?
Surface | Windows Touch & Tablet
I’m probably not the target audience for a Surface 3. I’ve had the other Surface devices, my daily driver is a Surface Pro 3, and I’m probably going to get a Surface Book. As it turns out, I really like this tiny marvel.
I’ve always bought top end Surface devices opting for the fastest processors, highest memory and storage capacity. Each decision taken in isolation was on the assumption that the machine I was getting would be my primary and possibly my only device. I didn’t really expect the Surface 3 to compare well with my previous Surface devices.
I got the Surface 3 with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, the Surface 3 keyboard and pen.
Here’s what I got. The friendliest and most likeable Surface so far. For an everyday user, I’d be quick to recommend this. Friendly means that it’s quick, light, has decent battery life, it’s tiny it’s silent and it stays cool.
It’s light, quick enough for most things, and it gets great battery life. I haven’t done a formal battery run-down test, but I’ve as yet to have it run out before I was done with it in a day.
I say that it’s friendly because it’s small. It’s easy to toss it into my backpack with little concern for its weight or size. Instead of taking the power supply I can use an external battery pack for extended work. Being able to charge it through the micro-USB port makes this possible. Even a cell-phone charger can extend the battery life in a pinch. I do that in the car with power accessories that I already owned for my phones.
Silence is golden, and the Surface 3 is silent. When I’m using my Surface 3 for music related applications it’s an easy choice.
With Office 365, Windows 10 Pro (and option for business users), keyboard and pen this makes for a great, general purpose business machine. I would take it on a business trip without hesitation. To my surprise I find that I’m more likely to take it out than my Surface Pro 3, simply because it has great battery life, and it’s smaller and lighter. When I’m meeting with others I am not likely to need all the processing power that comes with the Surface Pro 3.
And let’s not forget the pen. The pen is fully functional on the Surface 3 and in that, it compares with Surface Pro 3 working just fine with all my drawing applications. I also use the pen a lot with OneNote.
In short, this is a very productive machine. I’m using much more than I expected, and I’m enjoying it. Highly recommended.
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